In Summary... Baku, Azerbaijan was an unexpected destination for 2025 on our way back to Europe from Central Asia, but it didn’t take long for us to become utterly enchanted by this underrated and under touristed destination. In fact, it’s a place we undeniably see ourselves returning to again, and though we needed downtime this visit, we’re also very eager to…
Arriving to Baku After a troubled ten days in Tashkent thanks to hotel registration issues, we were 100% elated to get out of Uzbekistan and onto our next destination of Baku, where we would be for coming 2.5 weeks. 2.5 weeks?! You might say….? True…it’s not long enough according to our new one-month plan, but we’ve got a VIC (very…
In Summary.... Now that you’ve drooled over all the stunning architectural photos and listened to us drop every synonym for the color blue throughout our time in Uzbekistan, this post will begin to convey more of our real experience in the country…now that we’ve successfully exited. You can read about that story a bit more in the Tashkent blog post.…
From Khiva to Tashkent From Khiva, we were destined to rumble 15 hours back east to the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent by overnight train. This time, because it was a lengthy trip, we opted to upgrade about 10% to the 4-bed private berth cabin rather than the more open 6-berth, which was still only $27.50/ticket. A real value for this…
Taking the Train from Bukhara to Khiva From Bukhara, we boarded another train to what would be our furthest point west in Central Asia and what was undoubtedly our favorite stop on the Silk Road…Khiva. Unlike the last, this train only offered sleeper bed seats making it a much more cozy experience for the duration of our six hours. Uzbekistan definitely…
From Samarkand to Bukhara by Train From Samarkand, we trundled two hours west by train to the second most visited place on the Uzbek tourist circuit…Bukhara. And in case you skimmed over that little detail…YES, we said TRAIN, which is undoubtedly one of the things that makes travel in this country both uncomplicated and pleasant, unlike some slower, more tedious…
Getting to Samarkand & Our Accommodation From the Tajik border town of Panjakent, it was time to wander into the next Stan, for our final 29 days in Central Asia. This would also be our most challenging border crossing of the region, so we were pleased to have had the overnight in Panjakent and not tried to do it all in…
Despite having the same last four letters, which actually just means “LAND,” Tajikistan felt radically different than the first two 'Stans of our journey. It felt much more off-the-beaten-path, the people are radically different in their Persian-feeling look and hospitality, and it allowed us to experience one of the most epic road trips of our lives on the Pamir Highway….…
